In the Spring and Autumn Period, Mencius wrote an essay "I Want Fish" in Gao Zi Shang.
Full text:
Fish, what I want, bear's paw, what I want, you can't have it both ways, and you can take the bear's paw instead of the fish. Life is what I want, and righteousness is what I want. You can't have both. Those who give up their lives for righteousness are also.
If people don't enjoy life, then what can be used to find a means of survival, which can't be used? I hate death, too. Death is more terrible than the dead, so I can't avoid it. You can survive by some means, but some people don't want to use it; There are some ways to escape the scourge, but some people refuse to use it.
Make people worse than the dead, then why not avoid the patients! Born with it, born without it; If you are right, you can avoid pain and do something wrong. A bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, you can live if you get it, but you will starve if you don't get it. But with disdain to drink and eat, hungry pedestrians are unwilling to accept it; Kick others' food with their feet, and beggars will not accept it.
The senior official accepted it without distinguishing whether it was appropriate or not. Call it, and the people in the street will be blessed; Begging for help is too much. What's the use of 10 thousand minutes to me if I accept it without distinguishing the etiquette? For the beauty of the palace and the service of wives and concubines, I won't help those who know how to repay kindness?
Die for the body, not subject to the body, this is the beauty of the palace; Die for yourself, not subject to it, and now be regarded as a wife; I want to die for my life, but now I want to die for the poor and the needy: yes or no? This is called the loss of humanity.
Translation:
Fish is what I want; Bear's paw is what I want, too You can't have these two things at the same time. I will give up fish and choose bear's paw. Life is what I want; Morality is also what I want.
I can't have these two things at the same time. I will give up my life and choose morality. Life is what I want, but there are things I want more than life, so I don't do anything to drag out an ignoble existence. I hate death, but there are things more disgusting than death, so there are disasters that I can't avoid.
If people want nothing but life, then what can't be done by all methods that can save lives? If nothing is more hateful than death, what can't be done by any means that can avoid disaster?
According to this law, you can survive without it, and according to this law, you can avoid disaster without it. It is because there is something more desirable than life (that is righteousness) and something more disgusting than death (that is injustice). Not only sages have this idea, but everyone has this idea. It's just that sages can keep morality. ?
A bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, you get it, you live, you lose it, you die. If (if) you give people (food) impolitely, even the hungry people passing by will not accept it; Kick it to others, even beggars refuse to accept it because of contempt.
If I accept a high salary without knowing whether it is moral or not, what good will it do me! Is it for the beauty of the palace, for the service of wives, or for the poor people I know?
In the past, I would rather die than accept (charity) for (morality), but now I accept it for the beauty of the palace; In the past, I would rather die than accept (charity) for (morality), but now I accept it for wives and concubines; In the past, I would rather die than accept (charity) for (morality), but now I accept it for the poor people I know who appreciate themselves.
Can't this behavior stop? If you don't stop, this is what you call losing people's original thoughts, that is, shame.
Extended data:
I. Notes on words
1, also: also.
2. Desire: love.
3, the best of both worlds: the best of both worlds.
4. Give up: Give up.
5. take: choose.
6. even better than.
7. Yu: than.
8. therefore: therefore, therefore.
9. Get it: Get it, which means "drag out an ignoble existence".
10, evil: disgust.
Second, appreciate
Facing the choice between fish and bear's paw, the article "I want what I want" means that in the face of the choice between life and righteousness, Mencius will resolutely "give up life for righteousness" The "righteousness" and "original heart" at the end of the article refer to people's "heart of shame and evil" (according to the current popular understanding, it can be understood as "heart of shame and evil").
Because only when people have the heart of shame and evil can they distinguish what is acceptable in the moral bottom line, what is unacceptable in the moral scope and what is more worth pursuing than life, and they can not be tempted by "the beauty of ladies-in-waiting", "the battle of wives and concubines" and "the poor get me" and like people who don't eat their own food.
Baidu encyclopedia-I want fish.